The present invention relates to a method of mounting a speaker enclosure for a ceiling or wall mounted speaker and to the speaker enclosure having a flexible polymer speaker housing collapsible into a smaller size for insertion through a ceiling or wall opening for expanding on the other side thereof.
Typical building walls, such as in homes, commonly have in-wall or in-ceiling speakers prewired and mounted in the wall of the building to provide improved fidelity from a high-fidelity sound system or from a home entertainment system including providing surround sound for television sets and the like. Most modern stereo and high fidelity sound home entertainment systems, including television sets, come equipped with connections for the connection of a remote pair of speakers. The connection is provided to allow the operation of an additional pair of stereo speakers in a different room of the building or in the same room as the principal speakers. It has been common to prewire homes for mounting in-wall or ceiling speakers. The installation of the speakers is in the nominal spacing between adjacent wall studs or ceiling joists of a home where the depth of a speaker enclosure for a wall can be no greater than the width of a standard 2×4″ wall stud in which the exterior surfaces of the wall are flush with the studs. This provides a very limited space for the mounting of a speaker. The wide variety of such speakers have been provided in the past and are specifically designed to be mounted through one side of the wall or through the ceiling by cutting an opening in the wall or ceiling, such as through a dry wall panel, and attaching the speaker therein flush with the wall or ceiling so that a decorative grill can be mounted over the speaker.
Typically, the speaker is mounted through one side of a dry wall panel in a wall or ceiling and between the standard 2×4″ wall studs or ceiling joists. Wall studs or ceiling joists are typically spaced 16″ on center. Most speakers use the entire inside of a wall between the pair of studs or joists where the speaker is mounted as a speaker enclosure to handle the backwave of the speaker which is usually an elongated narrow box formed of drywall attached to building studs. This enclosure for the speaker is somewhat inadequate in dealing with the speaker's woofer portion and in absorbing the backwave or damping the vibrations from the speaker.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a lightweight speaker enclosure that can be added to an existing in-wall or in-ceiling mounted speaker without any destruction or damaging of the existing wall and which dampens vibration and absorbs the sound energy eminating from the rear of the speaker mounted in the wall. The speaker enclosure is easily retrofitted in a wall and reduces noise from the wall.
Prior U.S. patents which have attempted to form an enclosure in a wall for a wall speaker include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,609,589 and 6,550,570 to Combest for a speaker enclosure and mounting method for isolating and insulating a faceplate and heavy speakers from surrounding mounting surfaces. This system, in essence, removes a fairly large-section of a dry wall between a pair of studs for attaching the speakers and a recessed speaker box. In the U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,280 to Richie, a wall mounted speaker system operates in a similar manner to the Combest patents in that a large opening is cut into one side of a wall between the wall studs for mounting the speakers and a speaker enclosure. In the J. B. Hellon U.S. Pat. No. 2,744,584, a public address housing assembly is provided for loudspeakers and incorporates the assemblies in a wall or a ceiling of a building to provide an installation substantially flush with the supporting wall or ceiling. The E. E. Shaffer U.S. Pat. No. 2,821,260 shows a built-in sound system for a home in which a speaker box is mounted through a panel of the wall for attaching a speaker thereto. The Tsuchiya et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,381 is a wall mounted resin speaker cabinet while the Draffen U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,083 is a structure wall mounted speaker assembly.
In the Vishwamitra U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,380 an active sub-woofer speaker system is provided for an in-wall construction. In the Polk U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,300 a sub-woofer system and method for installation in a structural partition is provided for a loudspeaker system which is installed in a space between a front panel and an enclosed area behind the front panel of a partition wall or ceiling. The Liu U.S. Pat. No. 6,870,943 is for a ceiling loudspeaker with means for installing the loudspeaker on the ceiling in position. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,743 to McGrath is for an acoustical speaker housing and method of installation. The Queen U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,158 is for a ceiling mounted loudspeaker which has upper and lower sound directing structures having walls acting as a radial horn. The Mazejka et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,321 is a loudspeaker enclosure mounting above the listener.
These prior wall and ceiling mounted speaker enclosures typically require cutting a very large opening in a wall in order to mount the speaker enclosure or premounting the speaker enclosure during the construction of the wall.
In contrast, the present invention has a single speaker housing for handling the backwave of a wall or ceiling mounted speaker and which is lightweight, flexible and collapsible to a smaller size for inserting through an existing speaker opening and then expanded on the other side of the wall or ceiling and which can be readily attached to the wall or ceiling for mounting the speaker. The flexible housing also includes flexible acoustic damping materials, such as an acoustic foam, to further damp the backwave of a speaker.